Hester Eisenstein

Eisenstein signed a petition, published in December 2009, calling on trade unionists not “to collaborate with the Histadrut, the Zionist labor federation that not only supported Israel’s war on Gaza, but which has spearheaded — and whitewashed — racism, apartheid, dispossession and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians since the 1920s.”

The petition went on to allege “Israel’s role as watchdog for U.S. domination over the oil-rich Middle East,” and demand that the union “Divest from State of Israel Bonds” and “Oppose U.S. military and economic aid for Israel.”

Calling for the U.S. to Pressure Israel

Eisenstein signed her name to a petition, published by the Campaign for Peace and Democracy on January 9, 2009, titled “No More Blank Check for Israel!”

Signatories of the petition condemned Israel for “raining bombs and missiles down on one of the most densely populated sites in the world, making massive civilian casualties inevitable, and which, apart from its immorality, guarantees only another generation of hatred towards Israel.”

The petition went on to “urge the Obama administration to refuse to give Israel the U.S. blank check it has long enjoyed.”

Eisenstein signed a petition published January 12, 2009 of “Jews who say ‘Not in Our Name’ to the Israeli Government,” which called for “an immediate end to the massacre of the Palestinian people” and “immediate steps taken to end the Israeli occupation.”

In 2002, Eisenstein signed a petition titled “AN OPEN LETTER FROM AMERICAN JEWS TO OUR GOVERNMENT,” which urged the imposition of a two-state solution, asserting that “if Israelis and Palestinians are unwilling or unable to negotiate a workable peace, the international community must take the lead in promoting one.”

Prior to stating that “foreign troops may well be required to enforce it, and they must be prepared to accept casualties,” the petition claimed: “The U.S. bears a special responsibility for the current tragic impasse, by virtue of our massive economic and military support for the Israeli government: $500 per Israeli citizen per year. Our country has an extraordinary leverage on Israeli policy, if only our government would dare to use it.”

Defending Rabab Abdulhadi

In October of 2016, Eisenstein signed a petition authored by the National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), whose purpose was to “extend unconditional solidarity” to Professor Rabab Abdulhadi.

The petition claimed pro-Israel organizations “waged a coordinated smear campaign—employing Islamophobia, anti-Arab racism, outright lies and innuendo, and defamation against Professor Abdulhadi.”

According to a Middle East Forum report, Professor Rabab Abdulhadi has — since at least January 2014 —  sought to cultivate alliances between San Francisco State University (SFSU) and two Hamas-dominated Palestinian universities.”

In 2016, Abdulhadi signed a letter to Vassar College President Catherine Bond Hill defending Jasbir Puar. Puar demonized Israel, suggesting that Israelis harvest the organs of dead Palestinians.

Eisenstein signed a letter published on July 1, 2014, by “members of Jewish communities” to San Francisco State University (SFSU) President Leslie Wong, condemning actions taken against Abdulhadi and her anti-Israel activism on campus.

The letter specifically defended Abdulhadi’s activities, such as leading a controversial “delegation to Palestine that highlighted the plain reality of Israeli occupation and settler-colonialism” and went on to claim that “political intervention to support Israel and Zionism feeds into anti-Jewish racism.”

During a March 2014, SFSU faculty event, Abdulhadi praised international airplane hijacker Leila Khaled as an “icon in liberations movements and… an icon for women’s liberation.”

BDS

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true. 

One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”  

Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”

In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”

The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.

BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.

The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.

Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.

BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.

Social Media and Weblinks

University Website:https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Faculty/Core-Bios/Hester-Eisenstein